Physics 1090: Fundamentals of the Physical Universe

University of Wyoming

Unit 1: Science as a Way of Learning
Due September 2, 2009
20 points

To receive credit, your completed assignment must be submitted to me by the beginning of class on Wednesday, September 2.

Do one, and only one, of the following:

1. The bird.

Explain, as completely as you can, how the drinking bird works. Daiagrams that help the clarity of your explanation are encouraged. Identify evidence for each aspect of your explanation and briefly explain how it supports your mechanism.

2. Design a study.

When you were dropping stacks of paper and sheets of paper, you were given a list of variables (weight, thickness, volume, surface area, density, wind drag, temperature, and day of the week) that might affect how the paper fell. Choose one of these variables. Describe an experiment or series of experiments you could do to determine convincingly whether the variable affects the speed of the paper’s descent or not.

3. Set personal course goals.

This course is required for elementary education majors. This means somebody thinks that something here is important for elementary school teachers to know.

1. What should you get from this class?
2. How will you be able to tell if you are getting what you should as the semester unfolds?
3. As the semester unfolds, how will I be able to tell if you are getting what you should?
4. Reflect on part of the lesson.

Remember back to the drinking bird activity. You had gone through the syllabus with Albert and me and were told to observe the drinking bird, which had been on your table all along. What were you thinking and feeling during that time?

Or, remember back to the paper drop activity. Your group had just written an explanation of how the drinking bird worked. I then gave you a series of simple tasks involving dropping paper and had you answer questions about what you could infer from what happened. What were you thinking and feeling during that time?

Take your choice of these tasks. Do not submit answers to more than one of them. Just choose one, and submit it. Your answer should thoroughly address all points of the question. An adequate answer will be several paragraphs long. You will not be graded on grammar and usage, but you must write clearly and precisely.

Warning: Do not turn in paper that has ragged edges! If you write your work in a spiral-bound notebook, trim the edge before submitting it. Papers with ragged edges will be returned unmarked.